The U.S. Military Wants Autonomous "Killer Robots"

Photo from Extreme Tech

US Killer Robot Policy: Full Speed Ahead -- Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists

In November 2012, United States Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter signed directive 3000.09, establishing policy for the “design, development, acquisition, testing, fielding, and … application of lethal or non-lethal, kinetic or non-kinetic, force by autonomous or semi-autonomous weapon systems.” Without fanfare, the world had its first openly declared national policy for killer robots.

The policy has been widely misperceived as one of caution. According to one account, the directive promises that a human will always decide when a robot kills another human. Others even read it as imposing a 10-year moratorium to allow for discussion of ethics and safeguards. However, as a Defense Department spokesman confirmed for me, the 10-year expiration date is routine for such directives, and the policy itself is “not a moratorium on anything.”

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My Comment: The pentagon may want robots .... but they have their share of problems.

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Soldiers Feeling For Robots?

Photo by Journalist 1st Class Jeremy L. Wood

Empathy For Military Robots Could Affect Outcomes On The Battlefield -- PBS

That's the conclusion of Julie Carpenter, a Ph.D. in education at the University of Washington. Carpenter interviewed 23 explosive ordnance disposal personnel who regularly used robots on the job. She found that the soldiers often anthropomorphized their robots, assigned them human attributes such as genders and names, and even displayed a kind of empathy toward the machines.

"They would say they were angry when a robot became disabled because it is an important tool, but then they would add 'poor little guy,' or they'd say they had a funeral for it," Carpenter said. "These robots are critical tools they maintain, rely on, and use daily. They are also tools that happen to move around and act as a stand-in for a team member, keeping Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel at a safer distance from harm."

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Update: Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield -- University of Washington

My Comment: A 21 gun salute for a robot?!?!?!?

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The U.S. Army Wants Robots

The Army has looked at the Navy's Fire Scout, but has yet to field a vertical take off and landing drone.

Army Determined to Integrate Robots Into Force Despite Budget Pressures -- National Defense

The Army must take what it has learned using robotic systems over the past decade of fighting and fully integrate them into the force even though current fiscal restraints will make that challenging, a senior officer said Aug. 13.

"We will leverage what we have learned and put that against where we want to go," said Lt. Gen. James O. Barclay III, deputy chief of staff, Army G-8, at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington, D.C.

"As I take a look at the modernization roadmap to the future for the Army ... we have to provide affordable, modernized force that is both manned and unmanned, and that can team together," he said.

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My Comment: With budget pressures being felt everywhere, this is one program that the US Army will probably postpone.

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